A Blockchain-Based Credentials for Food Traceability in Agricultural Supply Chain

Abstract

In recent years the prominence of food product traceability has significantly increased due to growing concerns regarding food safety and ensuring equitable market access for farmers. Presently, supply chain information systems collect, transmit and store records in centralized systems. These conventional digital systems create fragmented data silos vulnerable to a single point of failure. These limitations pose significant challenges in establishing trust factors such as transparency, traceability, integrity, and privacy among the various actors involved in the agri-supply chain. To overcome these challenges, a decentralized technology like blockchain has immense potential to enhance traceability by addressing security and privacy aspects. This study proposes a blockchain-based framework called AgriFoodCredChain for food product traceability using Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs). Initially, the study outlines a secure mechanism for establishing DID communication channels, assuring robust and reliable data exchange. Furthermore, methods for privacy-preserved issuance and verification of credentials for food traceability are developed and presented. The implementation of the framework is conducted utilizing the identity blockchain named Hyperledger Indy and Aries library, considering particular workflow in the food supply chain. Evaluating the framework w.r.t credential issue and verifying time proves that the solution implemented is scalable and satisfies the requirements for real-time adoption.